Lost through ages
by Goldie.dk
Summary: The year is 2106. It's going great for Holly, her career, her lovelife, ect... but when a human discovers the Lower Elements, she needs help. And she must realize that she'll need to go back in time, and ask Artemis for assistance...
1. Chapter 1 Sleepless

Ladies and gentlemen! Mud men and Fairies!

Let me present my newest fanfic!

Some parts of this story takes place more than a hundred years after The Eternaty Code, and some of it is right after Artemis got his memories back..

Hope you like it! I don't own anything, except for Lieutenant Colonel Hazel, who is briefly metioned..

By the way... I'm a little in doubt about the rating of this story... If someone have a suggestion for the rating, please write it in your review!

Read, enjoy and review!

* * *

Oh, by the way. For those of you, who wanted the love story in this chapter to be a little bigger: I've re-wrote it, so that it's much better, much longer, and makes much more sence.. Hope you like.. ;)

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**Chapter 1**** –Sleepless**

_Holly Short's __apartment –Haven City –Year 2106_

Commander Holly Short couldn't sleep. So much had happened in the last time, she actually hadn't realized it all yet. A week ago, Root had been promoted to lieutenant colonel, and had become a member of The Council, after the death of one of the oldest members; Lieutenant Colonel Hazel had been suffering from an unknown disease for a long time, and had passed away before the doctors had found a cure.

When Root had called her into his office today, there were packing cases everywhere, and the office was almost empty, except for the desk, the chair and the computer. Holly had smiled to him, when she entered. She would miss him… after all. "Hello Major Short," he had said.

"Good morning sir. And once again: Congratulations."

"Thank you. You know, that the council let me to decide, who is going to be the new commander, right?"

"Yes, I know."

"Well. Congratulations Short. It's gonna be you."

Now, when Holly was lying in her bed and thought about it, she realized that she'd probably had a very strange look on her face, when he told it.

"What? Me? You've… You've got be kidding me, sir!"

"I'm not kidding you. I'm never kidding, I haven't laughed in the last 300 years! You're going to be the new commander."

"But… but… Why me? What about Major Kelp? He's a much better officer than I am! And what will The Council say?"

"They won't say anything at all, because it was my assignment to decide who it's going to be. And I chose you and not Trouble, because I think you'll be the best for the job. You're a good leader Holly."

"Thank you sir, but… but…"

"But what?"

"I… I can't! I really don't think that I can do it!"

"Of course you can. Relax, it's not as bad, as it looks."

After a while, when Holly had given up protesting, all the officers had had a party in the canteen: A combined goodbye-party for Root and welcome-party for Holly. Everyone had looked satisfied. She was lucky. It would have been a disaster, if they'd all hated Root's decision.

Now Holly lay there in her bed, and didn't feel tired at all. She looked at her watch. It was late, very late. There was only six hours, until she should be at work. Five until she was going to get out of bed. With her new grade followed earlier meeting-times. She should have been sleeping a long time ago. She was going to be rested for the ceremony the next day, where her promotion became official. She would get a brand new uniform and the rank-sign with the golden acorns, which showed her new position. But she just couldn't fall asleep at all.

* * *

_Police Plaza –Haven City –Year 2106_

When Holly came to work the next day, she was really tired. She had only slept four hours that night, but she was there right in time anyway; it was, after all, a very important day.

Lieutenant Colonel Root was waiting for her, outside her new office. She smiled weakly.

"Good morning Commander," Root said.

"Good morning sir." Holly yawned, and nodded at him.

He didn't comment on the yawn, or the bags under her eyes, and she was glad that he didn't.

The rest of the day passed without any accidents. The ceremony was going just fine, even though some of the Council members sent her some very offended looks now and then.

Root left in the middle of the afternoon, and left the responsibility of everything to the new commander. Holly had no idea, what she was going to do. Luckily, Foaly helped her, the bad thing about that was just, that he had already started to annoy her, with his sarcastic comments. He obviously thought, that because she had got Roots job, she should also have his daily ration of teasing.

* * *

_Somewhere in Haven City – Year 2106_

After a couple of weeks, everything was going just fine for Holly. All the officers were good at helping her if she was in doubt about anything, especially Major Trouble Kelp, who had been one of her best friends for year, and who was now the second in command at the LEPrecon.

It was after work, and Trouble had asked her over to his place to have pizza. He wanted to celebrate her promotion, but they hadn't had time to do it before, because she had had so much work to do.

They had decided to take a walk around the city before they'd go to his place, and now they was walking down a dim street underneath the soft, orange light cast from the streetlamps. The guys at the weather control department had made tonight a mild summer evening, disturbed only by a refreshing breeze. Holly loved those evening, and she was happy to be outside. I almost felt like being above ground.

Holly was glad that she'd taken this evening off. The two of them almost hadn't had a chance to talk since her promotion.

"So," Trouble said. "Are you settling down in you new post at work?"

She smiled at him. "I'm starting to. I must admit that I was quite worried at the beginning. When Root told me that he had chosen me, I just panicked. Actually, I told him to pick you instead." She laughed.

So did he. "Good Frond, I'm glad he didn't take your advice!" he said, and nudged her gently on the shoulder.

"Really?" Holly said. "I thought you would love to be offered the job. And you're just so perfect for it! I mean, you're such a great leader of LEPretrieval one and a good officer who always obeys orders, and arrives at work in good time. I mean, I've cost the corps and especially Root so much trouble…"

"Still," Trouble broke in. "You're good at keeping your head in difficult situations, and yeah, maybe obeying orders isn't exactly your forte, but you have a good intuition. And as Commander, you're the one who makes the decisions in critical situations, and you're good at that.  
I didn't want to be Commander anyway. I was so scared that he'd pick me."

Holly shook her head. "You're crazy." They both laughed and walked on.

Suddenly Holly felt a big, cold rain drop hit her nose. Then one more, and yet another one. She looked up into the sprinklers situated in the high ceiling of the cave.  
It was as she feared. The sprinklers slowly started to fire enormous amounts of water towards them.

"Oh no!" She said.

"Run!" Trouble laughed, and stretched out his jacket over their heads as they ran towards his apartment a few blocks away. The jacket didn't give much protection, though, and when they were finally walking up the staircase to Trouble's apartment, they were both soaked.

Holly laughed. "Oh Frond, I hate when they do that! Look at my clothes!"

"Don't worry I'll lend you some dry ones." He put the key into the keyhole and let her in.

* * *

_Trouble Kelp's apartment –Haven City –Year 2106 _

Trouble went to his bedroom to get some clean clothes. He returned a few minutes later, wearing a grey track suit with the words "Lower Elements Police Academy, Private Kelp" printed on the chest, and gave her a similar one and a pair of socks.

"Here you go, Commander. Feel free to use the bathroom to change."

She laughed. "Thank you, Major Kelp," she said with an air of importance. They both laughed.

She took the clothes from Trouble and went to the bathroom.

"Oh my," she muttered when she saw her drenched face in the bathroom mirror. She looked like a drowned rat.  
"There're some towels in the left closet next to the sink!" Trouble called from the living room.

She undressed and took a soft, white towel in the closet.

"What would you like on your pizza!?" Trouble called.

"Just some mixed vegetables," she called back. She could hear that he was calling the pizzeria.

The track suit was about three sizes too big, but it was warm and soft and smelled of soap powder and of Trouble. Even though the clothes were old, the fabric was still very soft and it didn't look shabby or worn. She had a couple of those track suits herself, and she knew that it was almost impossible to wear them out.

Holly finished drying her hair with the towel and re-entered the living room, where Trouble was sitting on the couch. His hair, that was a little shorter than her own was, was still dripping a little. She took a fresh towel from the bathroom and gave it to him as she sat down next to him on the couch.

They talked about work for a while, and it didn't take long before the pizzas arrived.

"So," Trouble said and swallowed a big mouthful of pizza. "It's been a while. Are you seeing anyone?"

She sent him an annoyed look. He always asked her that question, even though she hadn't had a serious boyfriend for half a century. He, on the other hand, always had a girlfriend. Not that she didn't understand the girls who went out with him, he was very good looking with his tousled, dark brown hair and his almond-shaped, chestnut eyes that somehow seemed to glow when he looked at you.

She sighed. "No, I'm not seeing anyone, Mr. Womanizer, but you probably have. What's her name this time?"

He scowled. "Don't be so cocky, young lady. No, as a matter of fact, I'm not seeing anyone!"

"Oh," Holly said with a feigned surprised expression. "Because you've grown up, or because there simply weren't any girls left in Haven that you haven't been with yet?"

He threw a pillow after her, and she had only just time to duck and save her pizza from falling off her plate.

"Okay, okay!" she laughed. "I'm sorry!"

He smirked and took another bite of his pizza.

"No," he said thoughtfully when he'd swallowed it. "I just want something a little more serious now, I guess. I'm getting older, you know." He winked.

"Oooh, yeah, how could I forget?" Holly laughed. "Your 200th birthday is approaching. Poor, old Troub."

He almost threw another pillow after her, but she threatened to throw the pizza on the floor, and he put the pillow back where he found it.

They finished their meal and put down the plates. Holly smiled. "So," she said. "You're looking for something a little more serious, huh? Any idea, who this dream girl of yours, is then?"

She looked at him, and her smile faded. He was looking at her in a very strange way.

"Trouble," she said and touched his hand. "Is everything all right?"

"What?" He said and came to himself. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I just drifted off. I guess it's part of getting old." He laughed.

She hesitated, but was finally convinced that he was all right, and laughed too. She looked at his handsome face. She liked it when he laughed. Her hazel eyes met his chestnut ones, and Holly felt a rush of blood in her ears. She bit her lip.

"Holly," he said, and took her hand. "I just want you to know, that you're my very best friend. You've always been there for me, and I don't know what I would do without you."

Trouble slowly leaned forward – towards her. He looked like he wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but then he made a decision and kissed her on the mouth.

It all happened so fast, and Holly didn't even get to react before their lips met. First she was surprised, and tried half hearted to push him away, but she actually liked it, so after a short while, she buried her hand in his thick, soft hair, closed her eyes and kissed him back.

* * *

Grub entered his brother's apartment. He had promised to drop by, with the book about underground snails that he'd borrowed.

The door wasn't locked. Trouble was probably at home.

As Grub walked inside he noticed that there was very quiet. Maybe a little too quiet. Wasn't Trouble at home anyway? Then he'd forgotten to lock the door. 'I'm so gonna tell mom,' Grub thought.

Grub walked into the living room, and got the shock of his life. There was his big brother sitting on the sofa, kissing Commander Short!

Grub dropped the book.

* * *

They heard a bump, stopped kissing and turned around. Grub was standing in the door, looking completely astounded. The cause of the bump was a book that he had dropped on the floor.

Holly and Trouble both blushed. The same did poor Grub.

"I…I'm sorry," he screeched. "I was just going to… No forget about it. I'm sorry. See you." He fled from the apartment as fast as he could.

Holly and Trouble laughed. Holly laid her head on his shoulder, and he buried his face in her short, auburn hair. "Tomorrow, every single LEP officer will know about this, you know," Trouble muttered into her hair.

"I don't care about the officers," Holly said. "I'm more concerned about when Foaly finds out."

"Yeah, you're right."

* * *

Please review.. ;)


	2. Chapter 2 Discovered

Hey people.

Another corrected chapter for you.. :)

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**Chapter 2**** –Discovered**

_Police Plaza –Haven City –Year 2106_

Trouble walked into the office, where Holly was sitting at her desk, writing a report on the computer.

She looked up, and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi."

Both of them blushed slightly, and an awkward silence arose. Then Holly opened her mouth again, just to say anything. Afterwards she thought, that her attempt to make conversation sounded pretty silly: "Uhm… What's up?"

"I just wanted you to know, that the hottest rumors right now says, that you and I are a couple."

Holly plucked up her courage, stood up, and walked towards him.

"So," she said slowly. "Are the rumors telling the truth?"

They looked into each other's eyes.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked.

Holly smiled and kissed him briefly. "Let's give it a try," she whispered, and kissed him again.

* * *

_LEP canteen –Haven City –Year 2106_

Holly ate lunch lately today. She had had a lot of work to do.

When she entered the canteen, she met Trouble, who was on his way back to work. They smiled at each other, and Holly touched his hand, as he passed.

Foaly called her name from a table in the back of the room, and when she'd got some food from the canteen, she sat down next to him, with her tray.

"Do you know what I heard Commander?" Foaly said with a sneaky voice, and took a bite of a carrot.

"You have probably heard, that Trouble is my boyfriend, or something like that. Am I right?" Holly sighed.

"That's exactly what I've heard."

"I thought so. And I can tell you, that you are absolutely correctly informed." Holly said, and started opening the package with pasta and steamed vegetables from the canteen, trying to look like the words she had just said, were totally ordinary to her. It didn't work out.

The centaur started to laugh. He laughed and laughed, and the few other officers in the room turned around and looked dismayed at him. Holly waited patient, nibbling to a piece of cucumber, until he stopped, after what felt like several minutes. Then she said, "I really can't se what's so funny about that Foaly."

Foaly dried his eyes, and tried to look serious. "You're right. I'm sorry Holly," he said, however, he kept giggling.

"If you weren't so important Foaly, I would fire you, you know."

"If I wasn't so important, Julius had already fired me centuries ago."

"Yeah, you're probably right. So now you know about us." She shrugged her shoulders.

Foaly nodded. He had finally stopped giggling, when he saw the look on Holly's face. He realized that his best friend was actually in love.

* * *

Holly was really starting to believe in her own leading-abilities when the catastrophe started to take place. One of the biggest catastrophes ever.

A Mud man discovered the fairies! Last time that happened was more than a hundred years ago.

At that time, it had been the twelve years old boy, Artemis Fowl. But this time turned out to be worse. Much worse.

* * *

Hmm.. Yeah, I know the ending of this chapter sucks.. But I don't think I'm gonna ghange it.. And I know that it's encredibly short.. :P

Anyway.. Please review, I like it when you review! :D


	3. Chapter 3 The email

Hey!!

Ok... To the reviews:

I'm sorry about spelling/grammar mistakes, it's not my fault.. ;) English is not my mother tongue! I'm sorry, but I'm doing my very best..

By the way, I have now corrected a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes in chapter 1, 2 and 3, AND added some extra lines here and there, to make it better, and give the characters some more personality (especially Root)..  
I don't know if I'll have time to correct more chapters today, but I'll definately get going with the other chapters soon.. :) My English has become a lot better lately (thanks to amazing English teacher), and I'm such a perfectionist, so I just have to correct everything.. :D

How Artemis comes into the story? You'll hear about it in this chapter... Happy? ;)

I have now re-wrote the whole romantic scene between Holly and Trouble in chapter 1. It sucked before, and it works much better now, so please read that part one more time. :)

Hm... And then, how Holly could go from Captain to Commander? She doesn't anymore, I've corrected that too.. :)

Hm... I don't own any of Eoin's characters, but I do own Dominic Richter..

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**Chapter 3 - The E-mail  
**

_Police Plaza –Haven City –Year 2106_

Foaly galloped into Holly's office.

"Commander!" he neighed. Holly started to get worried. If Foaly called her 'commander', there was definitely something wrong.

"What's going on?"

"We've just received an e-mail from… Eeh… From…"

Holly stood up. "From? What are you trying to tell me Foaly!?"

Foaly took a deep breath. "We've just received an e-mail from a Mud man," he said, with eyes as huge as tennis balls.

"Is it hostile?" she said.

"Well…" Foaly scraped a hoof against the floor. "Yes, it certainly is."

"Oh, no. Foaly, meet me in the conference room in five minutes." Foaly galloped out of the office. Holly grabbed the microphone on her desk, and turned it on. Half a second after, her voice sounded all over the Police Plaza, from every single loudspeaker. "We have a crisis situation, I repeat: A crisis situation. All the captains and majors are to present themselves in the conference room. Immediately!"

* * *

Five minutes later, Holly, Foaly and all the Captains and Majors were sitting in the conference room.

Foaly opened an e-mail on the big screen. Then he opened an attached file.

A Mud man came to sight on the screen. His eyes were black as two pieces of coal and he had short, dark brown hair. Everyone gasped, when he started to speak.

"Fairies," his cold voice said. "My name is Dominic Richter, and I know everything about your secret little underground civilization. Take my advice and contact me. I would like to… negotiate with you. I'm sure that you'll find me, in some way."

The film stopped. No one said anything. Then everyone looked at Holly. She made a decision.

There was no doubt that this human wasn't just going to have a nice, little chat with them.

They couldn't handle this threat by themselves. To defeat a Mud man she needed… Holly sighed. She didn't like the thought, but help was absolutely necessary.

There was nothing else to do.

"Foaly, when can that time machine, you are building be finished?"

"The time machine? Today or tomorrow, I think. It's almost complete. Why?"

Holly sighed. "We definitely need help. And we need help from another Mud man. There is only one other Mud man, than this Mr. Richter, who has ever known about our existence, and wasn't mind wiped."

"Artemis Fowl," Trouble muttered.

"Exactly. We have to get a time travel permission from The Council, so that we can take back and get him to our time. Foaly, get video connection to Lieutenant Colonel Root. He's our best opportunity to get the permission."

"Right now?"

"Right now!"

Root's face appeared on the screen.

"Hello, sir."

"Hello, Commander Short. What is the problem?"

"One: a Mud man called Dominic Richter has discovered The People. He's sent us an e-mail, and claims to get to negotiate with us. The Council must close everything down. Two: I'll need to get a time travel permission."

Root looked very surprised. His face turned from white to deep red and then back to white. A very exceptional phenomenon, in Julius' case. "But, it hasn't happened since…"

"Since Artemis Fowl. And that's exactly the person I am going to bring here, from the past. We need Artemis' help one more time, sir."

Root seemed to be thinking for a while, and then he said: "Ok, commander. You'll get the permission."

Holly sighed in relief. "Thank you sir! And you'll take care of the shut-down?"

"Of course. Good luck Holly. I'll catch up on you later, ok?"

"Got it, sir. Bye."

Holly turned off the screen. "Ok, Foaly. Get that time machine finished. As fast as possible!"

* * *

_Fowl Manor –Year 2005_

Mulch Diggums was sitting in an armchair in Artemis Fowl's room. It was, of course, nighttime, because at the day, the sun would have fried him in no time. The door opened, and he heard Artemis enter behind him. He had gone downstairs, to get Mulch a glass of water.

"Finally Mud boy, I'm thirsty!"

But it wasn't Artemis. Mulch found out as he felt a gun pointed towards the back of his head.

"What a surprise," a familiar voice said. "Mulch Diggums? Here? Funny, it was exactly you I was going to arrest! How lucky! Would it be a problem for you, to come with me underground?"

Captain Holly Short was delighted. Finally, she got him. She was pointing a gun at his head.

"Would it be a problem for you, to come with me underground?" she asked. She had him exactly, where she wanted him. Or, she thought so, until she felt a gun on the back of her own head.

"Yes, that would actually be a problem Captain Short," a cold voice said.

"You wouldn't dare Mud boy," Holly snarled.

"Neither would you."

That was actually true. She had got orders to bring Mulch back underground, not to shoot at him. At least not if it wasn't necessary. She lowered her gun, and the same did Artemis. Holly turned around.

"When did you learn to use that?" she asked, and pointed at the gun, in his hand.

"Three weeks ago, when I got my memories back. I thought that it would be a good idea, if I should get in a situation like this."

"Well, you were right. As usual. But if you'll excuse me, I need to take Mr. Diggums here, with me. I have an arrest order. And by the way. Since you've got all your memories back, I'll probably also need to take you with me, Fowl."

Artemis sighed. "Is that really necessary, Holly?"

"I'm afraid so," she said, with her mesmerizing voice. "You have to come with me." She stopped the mesmerizing, and turned around. "And you follow me too, Mulch."

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Review, please.. :)


	4. Chapter 4 The first travel

Hey again!

I would like to say sorry, for the confusion in chapter three, and don't worry... there'll be more of it... heh..

I would like to say, that I'm sorry about the confusion in chapter three. And beforehand I'll have to warn you: It's not over yet, there'll be much more of the confusion later on. I'm sorry, but it's hard to avoid.

I'll just try to explain:

In the end of chapter 3, where Holly catches Mulch: The Holly in that part is Captain Short, so it's the one from the past. This whole scene is happening in 2005, and Commander Holyl Short from 2106 hasn't gone back in time yet!

In the following chapter, there will also be some switching between 2005 and 2106, but I've tried to make it obvious who's who. Look after the following things:

1. Remember to look at the headlines written in Italic. Theyre you'll be able to see, which year we're in.

2. If it says "past-Holly", "Holly's past-I", "Captain Short", and stuff like that, we're talking about Holly from 2005. I've done the same with Root (2005: "Commander Root", 2016: "Leutenant Colonel Root"!) and Trouble.

Also, I have added some rulers where the perspective changes.

And about the other reviews:  
I really like Trouble and Holly, so I'm not going to change it.. I also like Artemis/Holly, but I just think, that Holly/Trouble is more likely to happen in the real series.. :)

I've changed Artemis a bit, so he's a little more like his evil self.. :)

And again I've corrected a lot of mistakes, and added a bit to the story to make it better.. :) Enjoy!

And I still don't own Eoin Colfer's characters!

* * *

**Chapter 4**** –The first travel**

_Police Plaza__ –Operation's booth –Haven City –Year 2106_

Holly and Trouble looked at the little box, Foaly was holding in his hand.

"Is _that_ box going to send me back in time?" Holly asked. She was starting to get nervous about her plan.

"Yes it is, and it's _not_ a box! It's my newest invention, Timetraveller 5000®."

"Yeah, whatever you say. Does it work?"

Foaly looked offended. "'Does it work?!' Of course it does! I have designed it!"

"Hm." Holly wasn't convinced, but she had to trust the centaur. "Ok, but you say that it's finished?"

"Yes, ready to bring you wherever you want it to. Or whenever, to be more precise."

"Good. Then make it send me back to 2005. The day where I took Artemis and Mulch with me underground, remember? It was right after Artemis got his memories back."

"Yeah, long time ago, but I certainly do," he made a quick search on his computer, found the right date and pushed some buttons on the side of the box. The right date and year appeared on the display of the Timetraveller 5000®.

"Where do you want to appear? And what time of the day?"

"Hm… The conference room. About… 4 pm I guess. Wouldn't that fit perfectly?"

"Yeah," Trouble said. "I think that's a good time… Unless my memory fails me, it was right before four o'clock, when Julius finished yelling, and Fowl told us, how he got his memories back."

"Yeah! Let's wait until Julius's finished yelling!" Holly laughed.

Foaly fine-tuned the time machine, and then he looked at Holly. "So Commander? Are you ready?"

"As ready as one could be," she said, but she didn't feel ready at all.

Foaly pushed a red button. A little shutter opened, and something that looked like a small camera lens, came to sight. Out of the lens came a strange, blue light. The light stopped in the middle of the air, and became what looked like a round portal.

"Step inside," Foaly said. "And then we'll see you again in a short while, hopefully in the company of Artemis Fowl."

Holly nodded. Trouble gave her hand a comforting squeeze. Then he let go, and Holly walked into the portal.

* * *

_Police Plaza__ –Haven City –year 2005_

Captain Short sent Commander Root, a concerned look. He had been yelling so loudly that Foaly had chosen to leave the room. Now he was trying to calm himself down a little. It might sound unbelievable, but it actually worked. "Ok, Mud Boy," Commander Root said, when his face color had turned a little less purple. "I'm only going to ask you about this one more time, if you won't answer, we'll have to mesmerize you: How did you get your memories back, and what does Mulch Diggums have to do with it?"

Artemis smiled. "Ok, ok." He looked at Holly. "Captain Short. Do you remember the coin you gave me once?"

She nodded.

Artemis smirked. "And do you remember that I gave it to Mulch Diggums, before I was mind wiped?"

This time Commander Root also nodded.

"Well," he said, and pulled a leather string out, from under his shirt. In the string hang a coin; the very same coin that Holly had shot a hole in and given him. "The coin is right here. The thing I gave Mulch was a minidisk, which contained all the fairy files from my computer. I simply asked Mulch to go to the surface again, and show me the files, after he was discharged."

Holly, Root and Trouble Kelp, who was also sitting in the conference room, looked at the black-haired boy. Their eyes grew wide. This kid really was smarter than ordinary Mud men.

"Then I suppose, that it was also you, who changed Mulch's criminal files, so that he was released, right?" Root asked.

"Yes, that was also me."

"Hm, I was quite certain that something about that date wasn't right, but there was no way to prove it."

Artemis opened his mouth to answer, when something strange happened.

A big, blue hole opened in the middle of the air, and out came…

Holly gasped. Out of the hole came a woman. She was wearing a commander's uniform, and the badge with the golden acorns was glittering on her chest. But the thing that made Holly gasp was that the woman… was her. She looked a little older and the hair was a little longer, but there was no doubt. It was herself; Holly Short.

* * *

When Holly walked out of the portal, she saw one of the strangest things, she had ever seen. She saw herself. And Trouble and Root… and Artemis. Everybody was staring at her. And with a good reason. This probably seemed even stranger to them, than it did to her.

She had no idea, what she was going to do, so she just started to talk.

"Hello, I…" She stopped. What was she going to say? She took a deep breath, and then she tried again. "I'm Commander Holly Short. This probably sounds very strange, but I come from the future. The year 2106, to be more specific." She looked at Artemis. "I have come, because I need your help Artemis. Actually, the entire fairy civilization need your help. In the future a Mud man called Dominic Richter has discovered the Lower Elements. You must come with me back to the future to help stopping him. You're the only other human, who has done, what he's done. Will you help us?"

Artemis still stared at her. He actually seemed a little confused, and Holly would have enjoyed the look on his face, any other day.

Then Artemis got his old, sneaky look back on his face. "Well… _Commander_. What's in it for me?"

Now it was Holly's turn to be confused. "Wha… What?"

"Don't I get anything for helping you saving the fairy civilization?"

"Oh, I hate you Mud boy," Holly muttered. She missed the man she knew Artemis would become, when he'd grow up. Her friend. "Please Artemis. We don't have much time, and we really need your help! Damn, I should have chosen to talk to you, when you got a little older."

"Well, why don't you just do that then?" Artemis said with a sarcastic smile.

"Because I only have permission to take one time travel. Artemis, please. For this one time, be a little generous."

Artemis shook his head, like if he tried to make Holly's idea about generosity disappear, but then he looked up at her, and sighed: "Sure. Fine. Let's go."

Holly sighed in relief. "Good, come with me."

She was about the turn around, and walk into the portal, when her past-I stood up.

"Can I help with anything?"

Holly (the one from the future) looked at her. She thought it over, and couldn't see a reason not to let her past-self come with her. She smiled. "Sure. If Commander Root will let you come with me. I'd like to have all the help that I can get."

Then Trouble also stood up. "I'm going too," then he looked at Root and added: "If it's okay with you sir."

Root sighed. "Ok, you two can go, but then I'm coming with you!"

Holly (again the one from the future) smiled again. "Are you all ready to go, then?"

The three fairies and the human nodded, and then they all followed Commander Short through the portal.

* * *

_Police Plaza –Operation's booth –Haven City –Year 2106_

Foaly and Trouble was waiting for her in the operation's booth. The other four was coming right after her.

She smiled at Trouble (the one from her own time), and gave him a quick kiss. Past-Holly and past-Trouble took a step away from each other, and stared at them as if they'd seen a huge, slimy cave snail.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Captain Short whispered, and her future-I started to laugh. Then she turned around, and looked at Foaly, who was eating a carrot and laughing at the two fairies from the past at the same time. The carrot almost strangled him and little orange carrot pieces and spit flew in every direction.

"Charming, Foaly," future-Holly said sarcastically.

"Don't I ever fire him?" Commander Root said, with a disappointed sigh.

"Good to see you too, Julius," Foaly laughed.

"Nope," Commander Short said, ignoring Foaly's comment. "Congratulations Foaly, your Timetraveller-thingy worked."

Foaly had finally regained control over himself (and the carrot), and now he looked proud and offended at the same time. "I told you that it would work! I'm a genius! And by the way: It's called 'Timetraveller 5000®'."

"Uhm, yeah, whatever. Oh, and remind me to get the conference room refurnished soon. On my time travel I noticed, that it still looks exactly the same, as it did in 2005."

"Yes sir, of course sir. Refurnishing sir. I'll remind you sir!" Foaly saluted her with a teasing smile.

Holly raised her eyebrows. "And would you please stop doing that?"

* * *

Review.. :)

* * *


	5. Chapter 5 Attacked

Now I've corrected the mistakes in this chapter as well.. :)

About the reviews:

Norbet: Well, I have no idea where Butler is.. :D I'm sorry, I didn't think about it, but well.. maybe Artemis has told him to let him and Mulch talk in private or something.. I don't know.. He might as well be making himself a sandwich or something. Bottomline: He's not in this story, poor guy.. :P

Bloody Dead Rose: I imagine the whole time-travel thing like this (I think I mention it later on in the story, but whatever) : When someone is removed from the past, the time from where they are removed stops, until they return.. So it doesn't matter who she takes with her, because no one in the past will notice.. :) (Yeah, it sounds weird, but let's just call it a poetic licence on my part).  
And the "Artemis went too easy" is now also corrected the best of my ability.

Hope you all still enjoy the story.

In this chapter I own Richter and also the young lady, who appears in the end of this chapter, but all the other characters belong to Eoin Colfer.. :)

* * *

**Chapter 5**** -Attacked**

_Police Plaza –Haven City –Year 2106_

"Ok, I'll give you a short briefing," Holly looked at the other people in the conference room. "You are now in the year 2106. The present situation is, that we're threatened, and nothing more than that. Today we got this e-mail." She nodded at Foaly, who opened the e-mail one more time. When they'd all seen it, Artemis raised his hand, very slowly, like he didn't know, if he was doing the right thing. For the first time that Holly could remember, he looked like the young boy he really was.

Holly looked at him. "Yes, Artemis?"

He took a deep breath, and then he started to talk. "I'm sorry to tell you this Commander Short, but… I'm afraid that this is my fault. I…"

"What do you mean? Of course it isn't! You died almost thirty years ago!"

Artemis raised his eyebrows. "Thanks for telling me, but I suppose I could have lived without that particular piece of information. But let me finish speaking. I have, too, been experimenting with traveling in time. By an accident, I sent the minidisk with all the fairy files into the future. I tried to get it back, but I couldn't."

Everybody's eyes were pointed at the boy. No one knew what to say. Commander Root couldn't even find something to yell.

At last, Holly looked up. "We can't be sure, that Mr. Richter has got the information from Artemis' disk. We'll have to find out. I suggest that we call Mr. Richter. Foaly track down the e-mail."

* * *

It didn't take Foaly many seconds, to find out where the e-mail came from. He looked at his laptop for a while. "Strange," he said.

Holly walked over to him. "What?"

"I've found his homepage. There's his phone number, e-mail address, everything. But… When I tracked the e-mail, it looked like the signal came… from under the surface."

"What? But he can't be… I mean… How? He can't be down here! Can he?"

"Maybe."

"Let's just try to contact him, and see what happens. Right?"

"Right."

* * *

Dominic Richter's face appeared on the screen. The Mud men had finally started to communicate via video.

Richter smiled. "Yes?"

Holly took at step forward, so that she was sure, that he could see her.

"Mr. Richter, right?"

"You're right, little fairy girl. So, are your people ready to cooperate with me?"

"I don't know, because we still don't know what you want."

"Ok, then get me someone to talk to."

"You can talk to me Mr. Richter."

"I meant a man."

Holly seethed of anger. "I repeat Mr. Richter. You can talk to me. I'm the one in charge here. My name is Holly Short, and I'm the Commander of the Lower Elements Police reconnaissance unit. You'll have to keep your man chauvinistic attitude for yourself, and talk to me, or you'll talk to no one."

"Ok, ok. I'll talk to you, Commander Short."

"Good. Then _what do you want_?"

"What do _I_ want? Hm… What do I want…?"

"We don't have all day Richter. Stop trying to play games with me, and tell me."

"You're a tuff little fairy, Commander. Ok, I just want the total mastery over the Lower Elements."

"What? You can't be serious!"

"Yes I can. And I am. And if you won't give it to me voluntarily, I'll have to take it with power."

Holly tried to think clear. This was impossible. He couldn't mean it. He couldn't do it. She had to make him keep talking, so that she could think. She took a deep breath. "Would you tell me, from where you've come to know about us?"

Richter laughed. A scary, cold laugh. Holly became even more angry. He enjoyed it! He enjoyed her fear, and he enjoyed her anger. She tried to calm down a bit.

"Hm, I guess that it can't ruin anything, to tell you. I was lucky. Some day an old-fashioned minidisk was lying at my desk. It turned out to be filled with information about a secret fairy-people, who lived under the surface of the Earth."

Holly sighed. So it was Artemis' fault. She had just hoped that he'd got the information somewhere else.

She looked at the others. "What now?" She mimed.

They all shook their heads.

"No, Richter. We are not going to let you take control down here. How do you want to do it, anyway?"

"I'll show you, young lady. I'll show you."

He broke the connection.

* * *

And just then, after the screen had turned black, they heard it. A deafening explosion, like the one from a bomb.

Grub Kelp rushed into the meeting room two seconds later. His hair was a mess, but for once he didn't seem to care. "Commander Short! We are being attacked!"

Holly looked surprised at him. "Humans?"

"No, it looks like…"

"Like what Grub?!"

"Like fairies, sir."

"How many?"

"I don't know. They keep coming."

Holly grabbed a microphone. "All captains and majors to the conference room! This is an emergency! I repeat: An emergency!"

* * *

Holly looked at all the captains. Good, they were all there. Or… No, one was missing. Holly sighed.

"Has _anyone_ seen Captain Root?"

No one said anything.

Holly took the microphone. "Captain Root! Get to the conference room! IMMEDIATELY! This is an emergency, and we're only waiting for you."

Holly sighed again. Always her. Always! Then she noticed Commander Root looking confused at her.

Before she got time to explain, a young woman entered the room. Her long, red hair was taken up in a ponytail.

"Well," Holly said with a sarcastic smile. "Looks like Captain Root has decided to finally join us."

* * *

Yeah, that's right! Root's got a daughter, and she's quite a rebel.. Ironic huh? :D

More about that in the next chapter. Please go on reading, and review.


	6. Chapter 6 War

So, I've corrected some mistakes in this chapter too. :)

No major changes, though.

Hmm.. Oh yes: I own the new Captains that appear in this chapter, as well as i own the amazing Captain Root.. :)

* * *

**Chapter 6**** -War**

_Police Plaza –Haven City –Year 2106_

Holly looked at Commander Root again. "Oh, by the way," she muttered to him. "You've got a daughter. I'll explain later." Then she turned her attention to the girl again.

"Captain Root. We're having a crisis here. What do you think you are you doing?"

"I'm sorry sir. I didn't think that I was going to come…"

"And why is that? I called for _all_ the Captains. Aren't you a Captain?"

"Yes, but… But you said, that you might demote me soon… sir."

"Yes, but I also said, that I wasn't sure. And you are not demoted yet, are you?"

Captain Root shook her head.

"Then I also mean you. Take a seat."

"Yes sir. I'm sorry, sir."

The girl looked around the room, and her eyes landed on Commander Root. "Dad!?"

Root opened his mouth, but Holly spoke before he got to say anything. "Well… that's not your father… no yet, anyway." Then she raised her voice. "You all know, that we are under attack. You probably also know, that I've traveled back in time to get help, so we'll just go straight to the important part: Does anyone have any idea where the enemies come from, or how many they are? Yes, Captain Dixie?"

Captain Dixie, a tall woman, with short, messy hair, stood up. "They seem to be coming from everywhere, sir," she said. "Right now, no one knows how many they are."

"Are they too many to fight?"

"No sir. There is a big chance that we are able to fight them, but if more of them shows up, we can't be that sure anymore." She sat down again.

"Thank you Captain. Your group goes to the north part of the city, together with Captain Ace's group and Captain Root's group. You can go out and get ready."

Captain Dixie left, together with Captain Ace. A blonde, male pixie. Captain Root was also about to leave, but Holly stopped her. "You stay here Captain Root. I'm going to call your father anyway, so we can also talk a little about your missing discipline. Captain Dixie will take over your group."

The captain sighed, and sat down again.

Holly told everybody else where to go, and afterwards, only Commander Root, Captain Root, Captain Short, both of the Troubles, Artemis, Foaly and herself were left in the room.

"And what about us?" Captain Short asked.

"We are going to find Richter. Foaly, can you track down the conversation from before?"

"Of course, I…"

"No Foaly, this isn't the time, to get offended or to start a lecture about technical device. Track down the call."

Foaly muttered something that sounded suspiciously much like "Typical. Absolutely no respect!"

After a couple of seconds, the centaur looked up from the laptop. "I was right! Richter _is_ underground. The call came from an old warehouse, close to Centrum."

"Good. Now call Lieutenant Colonel Root, we have to keep him informed."

"No need Short, I'm already here." Holly turned around, and there stood Root.

"This is just getting too crazy," past-Holly and past-Root mumbled at the same time.

"Short, could you please tell me, why the hell you have brought so many people from the past?"

_Oh, oh_, Holly thought. She should have known that he wouldn't like it.

"They wanted to help sir, and I thought that we needed all the help we could possibly get."

"But won't it mess something up in the past, if we've – I mean if they've just disappeared…?"

"No, actually it won't," Foaly interrupted him. He loved when he got to explain something, especially when he could annoy Julius, at the same time.

"My Timetraveller 5000® stops the time automatically, in the same second as something or someone is removed. No one will notice that they've been gone, because the time in their own time won't start again, before they return. So actually, Commander Short did a very clever thing, when she decided to bring them all."

Root was defeated, he could also se it himself so he just nodded. "Well, then I can't see any problem with it Short. So what are you going to do now?"

Holly sent Foaly a thankful thought. "We will go and find Richter," she said. "But before you go, I just need to talk to you, about Captain Root's working discipline."

Root sighed, and looked at his daughter. "What is it this time Julia?"

Holly answered for her. "She came too late for an important emergency meeting, because she didn't think she had to come."

Holly was glad, that Root had been taking anger management classes, because if he hadn't, he would simply have exploded.

"Captain Julia Andrea Jacqueline Root! This is totally unacceptable! That will make it the fourth meeting you're late for this week."

Julia looked at her feet. "I-I'm sorry dad-I mean: sir."

"You know what? You start to remind me a little more of Short, when she was at your age, than I like."

Julia and past-Holly looked at him. "No! That's absolutely not true!" they both said, at the same time. They looked at each other, and blushed. He was right, actually. How ironic.

Holly (the one from the future) sighed. "Ok, Captain. I'll give you one more chance. Go out and catch up with Ace and Dixie. They haven't left yet. If you can manage this… this war, yes, it's war now, you won't get demoted."

Julia nodded.

"You can leave."

She left the room. "Now we have to get out to that warehouse, and find Richter. If we're lucky, he's still there. Foaly, equipment please."

When Foaly had equipped them all, with helmets, cameras and Neutrino 6000's, Commander Short, Captain Short, Commander Root, Artemis Fowl, Major Kelp and Captain Kelp were ready to go.

"Keep me informed as often as possible," Lieutenant Colonel Root said, before they left the safe police headquarters and hurried towards Centrum.

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Keep reviewing.. :D


	7. Chapter 7 The warehouse

Well everyone, here come chapter 7, with some small corrections. :)

* * *

**Chapter 7**** – The warehouse**

_Centrum –Haven City –Year 2106_

There were people everywhere. Fairies fought against fairies, something like that, had never happened before. Of course there'd been some conflicts and smaller fights through the history, but never decidedly a war, like this.

Holly and her group had to move as unseen as possible – this, you see, can be a little hard, when you're together with a human, who is taller than everybody else; Artemis had grown pretty much. But they made it anyway without being seen, only moving through narrow, deserted alleys. However, their hiding-tactics didn't make it possible for them to see much of the fight, so it came as a surprise, when Foaly gave Holly the last news from the battle in her helmet's microphone.

"Holly, can you hear me?"

"Yes Foaly, I hear you very clearly. What's up?"

"I've just got the latest report, from one of the officers. Captain Ace I think. He says that the attackers seem to be mesmerized. That can mean three tings…"

"Yeah," Holly interrupted him. "One: That Richter is getting help from one or even worse: several fairies, two: That Richter himself is able to do the mesmer, or three: That Richter has discovered some new way to mesmerize people."

"Exactly."

"Do you have more?"

"No, not right now. I'll contact you, as soon as I know more. Where are you?"

"We're almost at the warehouse now. I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah. Good luck Commander."

"Thanks."

Holly told the others what Foaly had said.

"So the fairies don't fight by their own free will?" Artemis said.

"No, and that is probably the most comforting thought, we can find right now," Holly answered him. "Are you all ready to go inside?" The others nodded.

The old warehouse, with the worn sign, saying: _T. Imekiller's best_, was right in front of them now. It looked very scary, with the damaged paint, that might have been red once, and the broken windows.

"I remember this place," Holly whispered. "The factory and the warehouse were closed down a year ago, because of the nature damaging way of production. The firm that owned it made videogames, I think."

No one said anything. They just looked at the building, and they knew that they were going in there in a moment.

"Good luck," Captain Short said.

Major Kelp nodded. "Yeah, we're all gonna need it. Let's hope that we'll have enough of it, to get out here again afterwards. Together."

And Commander Short added: "All of us."

"Alive," Artemis said.

They looked at each other. "Let's go," Holly said and drew her gun. The others did the same, and then they entered the warehouse.

* * *

_T. Imekiller's best__'s old warehouse –Haven City –Year 2106_

Everything was quiet in there. There were no humans, no fairies, no alarms and no security cameras.

Holly got suspicious. This was very suspicious. If Richter had been here, there had to be _something_. But there was nothing. Only dust and old boxes. But then she saw it.

"I don't know if he's still here," she told the others in her helmet microphone. "But there has been _someone_. Look at the floor."

They all knew what she was talking about. The floor was clean. There was no dust at all. Someone had cleaned it, and it couldn't have been long time ago.

'Oh no', Holly thought. 'What if…?' She didn't even get to finish the thought, before they were surrounded by evidently mesmerized fairies. About twenty guns were pointed at them.

"Move close together, and stand in a circle. Shoulder by shoulder," Holly whispered into the microphone, even though she knew the enemies couldn't hear her, when she was wearing the soundproof LEP-helmet. They all did what she said; after a moment, they were standing in a circle, with their faces and guns pointed at the enemies around them.

Suddenly, Dominic Richter entered the warehouse.

"Aha," he said. "Commander Short has come to see me. And she has brought some friends. How… pleasant."

Holly stared at him. Her brown eyes were full of anger and hatred. She turned on the helmet's loudspeakers: "You'll never get away with this Richter. My officers won't give up!" She hissed.

Richter just ignored her, and kept talking. "It surprises me to see, that you have a human with you, but what surprises me even more is, that there're two of some of you. How…?"

No one said anything.

"Hm, it doesn't matter anyway." Richter looked directly into Holly's round, brown eyes. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave you now. My guards will take care of you." He turned his eyes to his mesmerized slaves. "Kill them," he said, and left.

The first laser beam flew directly over Holly's head. She could feel it graze the top of her helmet.

"Split up!" She screamed. And then everything turned into chaos.

* * *

Wooow, exiting.. :) Just feel free to keep on reading.. And please review, that makes me so happy.. :)

And as earlier mentioned, I'm a perfectionist, so if you fine some particular spelling or grammar mistakes, please let me know, and I'll be glad to take care of it.. :)

I think my grammar and spelling have improved a lot, though.. :)

Oh, and I'm sorry that his chapter is so short, but I had to stop it here to make a cliff-hanger.. XD


	8. Chapter 8 Death

I've corrected this chapter as well.. :)

* * *

**Chapter 8**** –Death**

_T. Imekiller's best__'s old warehouse –Haven City –Year 2106_

"_Split up!" She screamed. And then everything turned into chaos__…_

To Holly it felt like the battle only lasted for a few seconds. Screaming, yelling, shooting, fighting. And then it was just over. They'd won. All Richter's slaves were down, no one in Holly's group were hurt. She sighed with relief. It really was over now. Or, Holly thought that it was, but when one single blue laser beam that seemed to come out of nowhere appeared, it rapidly changed her mind.

It seemed so unreal. Holly saw everything in slow motion, but still there was nothing she could do. She couldn't move. The laser beam flew slowly, very slowly, or it looked very slowly, but actually it didn't even take a second. Holly tried to scream, but the sound seemed to be stuck in her throat. The beam hit Commander Root directly in the chest. It was deadly.

A male pixie, with short, black-colored hair, came out from the shadows. He had a gun in his hand. Before he could do anything to defend himself, he was lying on the floor, with two marks from two very precise Neutrino beams on his upper body. The two Hollys looked at each other. When they had seen Root fall, and the pixie had come to sight, they'd both, in the exact same moment, drawn their guns one last time, and shot. It felt like the time stood still. When it started to move again, everybody ran over to the body on the floor. It was too late. He was already dead.

"No," Holly whispered, and sank down on her knees. "No."

She looked up. Captain Short was sitting opposite her. She closed his eyes with a shaking hand.

Holly felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder. Trouble. He helped her up, and hugged her. They stood like that for a while, but then Holly was woken up by a voice in her ear. It sounded very… shocked, and she almost didn't recognize it. "Holly, are you there?" It was Foaly. "Yeah," Holly said, trying not to snuffle. "I… I'm here."

"Commander Root is dead, isn't he?" Foaly said with a dark, sad voice, that didn't suit him at all.

"Yes… How… How did you know?"

It took a few seconds before he answered. "His… his future I was here, to check up on how it was going, and then he just… disappeared. So I guessed that his past-I was probably… dead… A person can't live, if he doesn't have a past." Silence.

Holly took a deep breath. She had got an idea. "We're coming back to the headquarters now."

"Ok, be careful. They're still fighting outside."

"Thank you Foaly." She opened her visor, and looked at the sad group. Then she sighed.

"We're going back to the Police Plaza. Trouble and Trouble, can you…" she swallowed, and nodded at the dead body on the floor. The two Troubles nodded, and then they carefully lifted Commander Root's body from the floor.

Holly swallowed one more time. "Ok, let's go."

* * *

_Police Plaza –Operation's booth –Haven City –Year 2106_

Holly rushed into the Operation's booth, followed by the others. "Foaly, I want you to send me back in time, so I can save Julius," she blurted out. Foaly sent her a surprised look.

"But… But Holly, you'll need a time travel permission, and…"

"There's no time for that. Get that time machine started, and do it now!"

Foaly nodded, and started the machine. "When do you want to appear?"

"Right before the battle was over. About… Half an hour ago, I think…"

Foaly started the machine, and the portal came into sight. "Holly," Artemis said. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Holly said, and stepped into the portal.

Foaly gasped. A big cloud of smoke came out of the machine. Something was wrong, very wrong. But it was too late, Holly was already gone.

* * *

_Police Plaza –Operation's booth –Haven City –Unknown year_

Holly stepped out of the portal. But… There was something wrong. She was still in the operation's booth, but this time she was alone, and everything looked old and untouched. What the hell had happened?

* * *

So what do you think so far? :) Please review..

* * *


	9. Chapter 9 Punishment

Chapter nine all corrected for you.. :)

Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 9 –****Punishment**

_Police Plaza –Operation's booth –Haven City –Unknown year_

Holly felt rather lost. What was she going to do? The portal was gone, she didn't know in what time she was, and she was rather low on equipment. She'd dropped her helmet in anger before she left, and all she had with her now, was her Neutrino 6000 and some standard tools. She got angry at herself. What an idiot she was! Before she even got started making a plan a siren started to ring.

_Oh, oh. Revealed! _She thought. Holly looked around in the room. There! A small camera was hidden in a corner. She took her gun and shot the camera. At least they couldn't see her now – for a while. She was about to run out of the door, but too late. A male fairy in a blood red uniform came in. Holly gasped: It was Trouble.

He walked towards her. Holly looked into his eyes. His pupils were unnaturally small; he was mesmerized.

"D'arvit," she swore. She took a step backwards. "Stop!" he said and drew a gun. "Right away!"

Holly stopped. "Trouble," she whispered. He didn't react. She had to do something, and it had to go fast. So she took her own gun, set in on the lowest power, and shot him. "Sorry," she whispered, sat down next to the unconscious Trouble and turned him around, so she could handcuff him. But then she saw it. He had a small computer chip or something on his left wrist. When she touched it she found out, that it was, in some way, stuck right under his skin. "Sorry again, this might hurt a bit," she said, and took her gun. With a very precise beam, she made an opening in the skin, and removed the chip. There was a needle in it, and when she pulled it out, the blood started to pour out. "Heal," she said, and blue sparkles came out of her fingers, and healed the wound.

Trouble opened his eyes. _Oh, please let it work,_ she screamed inside herself. _Please!_

"Holly?" Trouble blinked twice, and looked very confused.

Holly almost started to weep with joy. Almost. "You remember me?" she whispered.

"Yeah, of course… What… What's happened? The last thing I remember is…" he sat up. "We were attacked! Right after you disappeared… The time machine broke down. How did you come back?"

"I didn't. I have no idea about in what year we are. You were mesmerized. I don't know for how long…"

Just then Trouble remembered something more, and his eyes turned dark with sorrow, fear and anger. "They won. They won the battle, because… Because more and more of the officers started to fight on Richter's side… I was shot…"

"… And then they took you somewhere, and put the mesmer-chip into your arm. It makes sense."

Trouble nodded.

"Did you see what happened to some of the others?" she asked.

"No."

Holly got an idea. She had to find someone, who hadn't been mesmerized at all. She grabbed the small chip from the floor. If she could just find out, how it worked. The needle was hollow. And inside the chip there seemed to be some kind of blue gel. Maybe this gel could affect something… She showed Trouble the chip, or whatever it was. "Have you any idea how this thing could work?"

He looked at it for a while, and then he said: "The gel probably goes into the blood…

"… And affects the fairy's magic…"

"… And makes, in some way, the fairy mesmerize itself from inside!"

"That's possible."

Holly smiled. If this was true, Foaly, and maybe Artemis – it depended which year it was – could help her. They hadn't been mesmerized, because they didn't have any magic.

Trouble looked down. "And what are these ugly clothes all about?"

Holly laughed and gave him a kiss. Then she loosened a pair of handcuffs from his belt. "You'd better get your captive into prison, right?"

* * *

_LEP prison –Haven City –__Unknown year_

Artemis looked up. The door was opened, and Holly was pushed inside by Trouble Kelp. First he thought that it was the Holly Short from his own time, who the guards had taken with them earlier that day, but then he saw a couple of golden acorns on her chest. No, it couldn't be…

Something unexpected happened. Trouble looked around to make sure that there were no one but the other prisoners there, and unlocked Holly's handcuffs. Then they both looked around, like they were searching for something.

Artemis took a deep breath, stood up, and avoided cleverly to bash his head into the low ceiling.

"Holly?" He said when he reached the bars.

"Artemis?" Holly said, and the two fairies walked over to him. "Oh, I'm glad you're still alive! What about Foaly?"

* * *

Trouble leaded her through all the corridors, they both knew so well. But they looked so strange. So… scary… And old.

They came to the prison, and Trouble opened the door and pushed her inside. If there were guards, they should think, that he was still mesmerized. But there were no guards. Not even security cameras. Either was Richter very incautious or he simply just anticipated that his prisoners were too weak to be able to do anything. It didn't take long before Holly realized that the last one was probably the most likely.

Trouble unlocked her handcuffs, and they started to search for Artemis and Foaly.

"Holly?" a voice said. She turned around and saw a young man looking out through the bars of his cell. Holly recognized him. She had seen him at about that age before. But that was many years ago, when the 25 years old Artemis had helped the people against Opal Koboi one more time.

Just… this time he looked far skinnier, his hair was wild and unkempt and an unsuitable, unruly beard covered the lower part of his face.

"Artemis?" she said, and they walked over to him. "Oh, I'm glad you're still alive! What about Foaly?"

"Here!" Foaly's voice said, from another cell. Trouble went down to check up on him, Holly stayed to talk to Artemis.

"You came back," Artemis groaned tiredly.

"Of course. But I'm so gonna kill Foaly for this… Which year is it?"

"2116. So it's ten years ago."

"Have you been sitting here for ten years?"

"No, not all the time. Sometimes Richter tries to make us help him with some technical projects. He's not very technical himself."

Holly noticed a long scar on his face, from his forehead all the way down over his right cheek. It could be from a knife or something. She touched it with her finger.

"What's happened to you?"

Artemis sighed. "Richter. When you don't do what he wants you to do, he… punish you. He's sort of sadistic, really." He pulled a little up in his left sleeve. There was another scar, very close to the artery. "And he has some very… interesting punishing methods."

"That monster!" Holly hissed. "Why haven't you tried to escape?"

Artemis laughed. But it was an empty laugh, without happiness at all. "We have." He pulled the sleeve a little more up. More scars and also some fresh wounds. Holly looked at the arm, then into his blue eyes, and then on the arm again. "Wow," she muttered. "It has been close, huh?"

"Yes, it has been close… And it has been close many times." Holly sent him an asking look. He sighed and pulled in the sleeve for the third time. This time she could see the whole underarm. She gasped. "He is crazy!"

There were scars and wounds everywhere in all directions. Holly took his arm, and healed it with her magic.

"Thanks," he said. "Can you get us out of here?"

"Maybe. If I can find a key card for the lock somewhere." She turned around. "Trouble. Help me. We need to find a key card."

While they were searching everywhere, Holly thought about Artemis. He was very unfamiliar from the Artemis she knew. This Richter-guy was even more dangerous than she thought if he could tamper with Artemis Fowl's self-confidence.

* * *

**Goldie: **What did you think? Tell me.. PLEASE... I just love to get reviews... :)

**Holly: **Hmm... I like the thing about me becoming commander... that's cool...

**Goldie: **Where did you come from?

**Holly**:Who cares? But I would like you to make a few changes in this story...

**Goldie: **Oh, no...

**Holly: **One: Why is Trouble my boyfriend?

**Goldie: **Because I thought that it would be a good idea... And I wanted to get some romance into the story...

**Holly: **Change it... If you want romance, you can give the mud boy a girlfriend...

**Goldie: **But...

**Holly: **Two: I'm way too nice to Artemis. Change that too!

**Goldie: **Holly, you have to remember, that in this story you have known Artemis for many years... You two are probably friends after so long time, and...

**Holly: **(Pulls out a gun, and points it at Goldie) Change it!

**Goldie: **Oh, hell... Well, please review, guys..


	10. Author's Note!

No, it's not an update, I just corrected some mistakes in some of the chapters, and added a bit here and there, to make them better.. :)

You should re-read chapter one, which is the one I've changed the most.

I am working on chapter 10, I promise to finish it soon, I've just been extremely busy, with school and exams and stuff. But soon I have some weeks off, where I have time to write some more.  
I'm sorry it's been taking so long.. ;)

* * *

**Holly:** What's taking you so long? For some reason, people want to hear the story, even though it's kind of crappy!

**Goldie: **Auw, you don't mean that, do you? And point that gun at something else.

**Holly:** Like what?

**Artemis:** What's this all about? Ahh, trying to be a little metanarrative, are we, miss Goldie? I like it, it's very postmodern.

**Holly:** Hmm, perfect timing. (Points gun at Artemis instead of Goldie).

**Goldie: **Thanks.

**Artemis: **What have _I_ done?

**Holly:** You're just annoying me, mud boy..

**Goldie:** Holly, aren't you being a bit.. touchy?

**Holly:** Yeah, and it's not my fault! It's because I've read that stupid story of yours. It's the worst piece of crap I've ever read. And killing Root? Isn't that sort of unimaginative? I mean, Eoin Colfer's already done that..

**Goldie:** Well, I actually wrote that chapter _before_ I even read the book where it happens. So unimaginative? No. More like provident, I would say. And it's not because I don't like Root, actually he's my favorite character..

**Holly:** WHAT!?

**Artemis:** I quite agree with miss Goldie on this one, Holly. And by the way, I don't find the story all that bad. Exept for the whole torturing thing in chapter 9, I don't like that, it's quite terrifying. And also, I don't think that it would be so easy to persuade me into helping the fairies.

**Goldie:** Arh, come on. It's because you're feeling guilty for causing the fairies trouble in the first place.

**Artemis:** I never feel guilty.

**Holly:** That's right, 'cause he can't! Actually he only knows one feeling: Greed.

**Goldie: **Oh, shut up, both of you.. As promised, I will soon have another chapter ready for you all. :)


	11. Chapter 10 A narrow escape

**Goldie: **Yay! I wrote another chapter! There may be a lot of mistakes in this one, though. I wrote it while I was very tired, but right now I don't feel up to correcting it.

**Holly:** You're so lazy.

**Goldie:** Yeah, whatever. Didn't you have a message for the reviewers, Holly?

**Holly: **Oh, right. I almost forgot. Okay, here it comes: THERE WILL NOT BE A PAIRING WITH ARTEMIS AND I! NOT NOW, NOT EVER! BECAUSE THAT'S JUST DISGUSTING! Thank you for your attention.

**Goldie:** Well, Holly, I can't guarantee that I won't make an A/H pairing in another fic, but...

**Holly:** WHAT!? (Points gun at Goldie)

**Goldie:** Damn.. Oh well.. Enjoy this. By the way, I'm really sorry that my chapters are so short, I know it sucks. I'm simply unable to make them longer.

* * *

**Chapter 10**** – A narrow escape**

_LEP __prison –Haven City – Year 2116_

"Here!" Holly said, and raised her arm. In her hand was a small, white card. She went over to Artemis' cell door, and unlocked it. Then she also unlocked Foaly's door. He looked very tired, plagued and skinny and she almost didn't recognize him. Like Artemis, his body was strewn with wounds and scars. Still he smiled as he saw his old friend.

Holly attempted to smile back. "So Foaly. Do you think you can fix that time machine, so I can get back and prevent all this?"

She saw the old spark in his eyes again. The spark that always came, when he was challenged.

"Of course I can!" he said, and in spite of the serious situation, he sounded a bit offended. Nothing could obviously affect that centaur's pride.

"Now the next problem will be to get back to the operation's booth, without being noticed," Trouble said.

Holly sighed. "That'll be hard. We have to make a plan." She looked at Artemis. This used to be his area. He nodded. "I'll try to figure something out."

"Great. Trouble, help him. I would like to ask Foaly some questions." She turned her attention to Foaly. "For example who made those mesmer-chips? Artemis said that Richter isn't very technical, he can't have made something like that."

"It was Opal Koboi," Foaly said. "She made them for him."

Holly was confused. "Yeah, she got her freedom not long time before Richter showed up. But why does he need your help? If he has Opal?"

After a while, Foaly answered. "He killed her. Right after he had won the battle, he killed her. He already had lots of chips, enough for the whole city. He didn't need her anymore. So he killed her."

Foaly's face was dark as he told her. He had hated Opal Koboi, but still he seemed to feel horrible about the way she had died.

Holly placed a hand on his shoulder. "He really is a monster," she whispered.

"We need a plan," Holly said and from habit she looked at Artemis. The starved young man's blue eyes glowed a little at the sight of his old friend's trustful glance.

"I think that it is essential to win some time, so that Foaly can fix the time machine," Artemis said, after considering their possibilities. "If Holly gets back to her own time she can make sure that none of this ever happens, so it doesn't matter what…" he gulped nervously. "What happens to me and Major Kelp."

Everyone fell completely silent as they realized what Artemis had just said.

"Are there no other options?" Holly whispered. However, Artemis didn't even have to answer. She could see the answer in his eyes.

She swallowed and made a decision. "So," Holly said. "What we need is a very good diversion, right?"

Artemis nodded. "There is normally only one or two guards inside the supervision room, so if Trouble and I are able to make them leave their post, Holly and Foaly can get to the Operation's booth unseen. Then we'll just have to hope that we can divert the other guards long enough for you to fix the machine and send Holly back.

There are two exits from the prison. We'll take the one that doesn't lead to the Operation's booth. It goes right by the supervision room. That should give you two a free passage, at least for a while."

The four friends looked at each other. Trouble drew hid weapon. "Okay, mud man," he said. "Let's go."

"Good luck," Holly muttered.

The others just nodded stiffly.

"I'll see you in the past," Artemis said to Holly. Trouble quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek. Then they left.

Holly and Foaly waited for a while. Then they heard the sound of an alarm and of scuffle in Artemis' and Trouble's direction.

"Now," Holly said, and the two of them ran in the opposite direction, towards the Operation's booth.

* * *

_Police Plaza corridor __–Haven City – Year 2116_

Trouble and Artemis sneaked through the corridor waiting for someone to notice them. They didn't have to wait for a long time. When they had almost reached the door of the supervision room, the loud, strident hoot of an alarm was penetrating the air around them and a couple of guards appeared from the supervision room.

Once again Trouble found himself standing in front of his own past-I, only this time his past-I was mesmerized, armed to the teeth and wanted to kill him.

After hesitating for a couple of seconds he knocked his past-I out with a burst of laser from his Neutrino. He looked over at Artemis. The mud man was removing a weapon from the other unconscious guard, who he had just floored with a punch in the face. Trouble was impressed. Being in prison has obviously toughened him up a little. True, the guard was pretty small, even for a pixie, but still…

Trouble's thoughts were interrupted by a big group of guards, running towards them. He adjusted the power level on his gun, and started shooting as many guards as possible. Next to him Artemis did the same.

* * *

_Police Plaza –Operation's booth__ –Haven City – Year 2116_

Holly quickly entered the Operation's booth and Foaly galloped after her.

"So," Holly said when Foaly had been examining the Timetraveller 5000® for a while. "Can you fix it? I need to go back to before Commander Root was killed."

Foaly almost answered her with an offended snort, but then he came to think about the seriousness of the situation.

"Of course I can. If I can just find my tools..." The centaur rummaged about in some drawers and finally found what he was looking for: An odd-looking tool box, covered in something that looked like tin foil.

"Hurry up, will you Foaly?" Holly said after a while. She could hear the scuffle and the sound of running guards coming closer and closer. The centaur just muttered something and wiped some sweat off his forehead.

She could see the guards now. Trouble was running in front of them, trying to shoot as many as possible without being hit himself. Artemis was nowhere to be seen.

Holly swallowed as the guards seemed to spot the two friends in the Operation's booth. One of them was successful in hitting Trouble in the chest with a laser beam. She couldn't tell if it was lethal, and she forced herself not to think about it now.

It only took the guards a couple of seconds to reach the Operation's booth. Now they were hammering on the panes and it was only a matter of time before they'd break through; the security system in the Operation's booth had been switched off many years ago.

"Foaly…" Holly wailed desperately.

"It's working!" Foaly yelled. His fingers danced over the small keyboard of the time machine and the portal opened just as the first guard broke through the glass wall.

"Hurry up, Holly! Get into the portal!"

Holly jumped into the big, blue hole in the air. The last thing she saw was a bright red laser beam hitting Foaly between the eyes.

* * *

**Goldie:** I'd still like some reviews.. :)

**Holly:** But keep them sober.. No more of that crazy A/H talk!

**Goldie:** Holly, they can say whatever they want.

**Holly:** Shut up, mud girl, or I'll blow your head off..

**Goldie:** Gulp.. O.ô


	12. Chapter 11 Back and forth

* * *

**Trouble: **Yes, H/T is much better, right, Holly?

:)

Great story, I love it! Please update soon! (Of course, I won't be able to read it for a while- vacation. But anyway!)

LEP Major T. Kelp

**Holly:** Oh Frond.. Trouble, I don't know what you're up to, but: NO!

**Goldie:** Arh, come on, Holly.. Trouble is a nice guy! :D You would make a great couple.

**Holly:** Last warning, mud girl: Shut up, if you value your brain cells.

**Goldie:** Yeah, whatever. Anyway, everyone: I JUST WROTE ANOTHER CHAPTER! (wohoo!) I really feel like I'm getting my inspiration back.. :) So I might actually finish this. Enjoy. ;)  
Oh, and by the way: I'm still sorry that the chapters are so short, and I'm also sorry that this whole time-travel thing isn't all that easy to understand.

* * *

**Chapter 11 – Back and forth **

_T. Imekiller's best__'s old warehouse –Haven City –Year 2106_

Holly fell on a big pile of boxes in the old warehouse. She crawled silently towards the edge of the box she was lying on and looked carefully down at the floor underneath her. She saw a group of Richter's mesmerized soldiers hiding beneath her.

Suddenly someone was entering the warehouse; a group of six people. She couldn't hear what her past-I was saying, because of the soundproof helmet she was wearing, but she remembered how she'd noticed the lack of dust on the floor.

Then it all happened very fast, but this time Holly was ready and had a good grasp of the situation. She could see it all from her hiding place.

The soldiers suddenly surrounded the small group that quickly moved into a close circle.

Holly saw Richter entering the warehouse out of the corner of her eye, but she was busy trying to locate the soldier who was going to kill Commander Root.

"Aha," Richter's voice rang out. "Commander Short has come to see me. And she has brought some friends. How… pleasant."

Then she heard her own voice, amplified by the helmet's loudspeakers: "You'll never get away with this Richter. My officers won't give up!"

Holly on the boxes shut her mind to the rest of the conversation, still looking for that one soldier.

The fight began beneath her and she had to duck a couple of time to avoid some stray laser beams.

Then, finally, when almost all Richter's soldiers had been knocked out, she saw him: A small pixie with black hair. He was hiding behind a box in the opposite end of the warehouse, ready to surprise the six friends as soon as the shooting stopped.

Holly made a quick decision and jumped down from the boxes. "Commander Root, watch out!" she yelled, as the pixie fired his gun from behind his box.

She pushed the Commander aside just before the beam hit him.

Then she saw a portal open in the air above her, and she was sucked up. The last thing she saw was the two Hollys in the warehouse shooting down the pixie behind the box.

* * *

_Police Plaza –Operation's booth –Haven City__ –Year 2106_

Holly tumbled out of the portal and landed on the hard, white floor of the Operation's booth. She heard surprised gasps around her and looked up: There were Trouble, Foaly, Artemis, past-Holly and past-Trouble. It was such a relief to see them looking healthy and young again.

"Holly!" Trouble from her own time gasped, as he rushed towards her to help her up.

Holly hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "Was I gone for a long time?" she asked.

Foaly shook his head. "No, it's only been five minutes or so since you disappeared. The Timetraveller 5000® just sucked you in of its own accord. I've been trying to find out where you went and fix the Timetraveller 5000®, but it's a very complicated piece of machinery and…"  
"I went to the year 2116," Holly broke in. "It was absolutely horrible." She told them everything.

"But there's something I don't understand, Foaly," Holly said. "Didn't you say that time stops, when someone is removed from his or her own time? Then why didn't time stop here when I disappeared?"

Foaly rubbed his forehead. "The rules of time travel are extremely complicated, Holly," he said. "No one has been able to fully understand them yet. I think that there's a difference between going back in time and getting someone from there, and travelling directly into the future. There's a difference between being a time-traveller and the time-traveller's guest. The time only stops when the guests are removed, not when the time-traveller himself disappears. I know it's confusing. As I said: No one really understands why this is. But what happened after we fixed the Timetraveller 5000®? You said you didn't go directly back to your own time."

"No," Holly replied. "You probably don't remember this, because it never happened, but Julius died back in the old warehouse. I went back to the time Julius was shot and saved him and then I was suddenly thrown back here. When I saved him, there was no longer a reason for me to go back in time in the first place, and I think that's why I was sent back here. And that's probably also why you can't remember that the machine didn't suck me in of its own accord; because it never happened. By Frond, this is complicated." Holly became silent as she realized that she didn't see Julius Root anywhere.

Artemis, Trouble, past-Holly and past-Trouble looked weird. As if they were all having a déjà vu at the same time. "I remember something!" past-Holly said. "You saved the Commander. But then where's he. I mean… where are they?"

"When Julius from the past died, the Lieutenant Colonel disappeared from the conference room," Holly said.

They were all about to run to the conference room, but this wasn't necessary: Just then the door to the operations booth opened and in came the two Julius Roots.

"What's going on…" Lieutenant Colonel Root stopped when he caught sight of the tired and ragged Commander Short. He had the same expression of suddenly remembering something he had long since forgotten. But this time Holly felt the same way. She felt like her head was a computer and all her memories were updated so that she remembered all that her past-I had seen and done since she had been brought in from the past.

"Holly!" Julius' (from her own time) voice sounded a little hoarse. She knew he remembered what had happened. She ran forward and gave him a hug, and for the first time she let her feelings run away with her and started crying. Before she had had to suppress her sorrow and grief at his death, squeeze it all together until it was all a small pellet hidden in the back of her mind, so that she was able to focus on the mission to save him.

But now, standing here hugging him and feeling him hug back and stroke her a little awkwardly on her bag, the pellet grew bigger and bigger, and together with the relief of seeing him again it filled up everything and she couldn't stop the tears from running down her cheeks and soaking the shoulder of his uniform jacket.

She remembered what it had been like to lose her father so many years ago, and realized that she had felt the same way when she had lost Julius. He was like a father to her, a mentor and a role model, and she didn't know what to do if he wasn't there to help and guide her.

He seemed to understand all this, even though none of them said a word. He just kept holding her tight and stroking her trembling back with his hand.

Finally she found herself able to draw back from his embrace. She dried her eyes with the back of her hand and smiled. "Good to have you back, sir," she said in a low voice.

He gave her one of his rare smiles. "Thank you, Commander Short."

Holly turned to the others. "I have seen what will happen, if Richter wins this battle," she proclaimed. "And I can assure you that it's not very nice. We need to stop him at all costs, and I think I have a plan."

Holly grabbed a microphone on Foaly's desk. It was connected to all her officers' helmets. "Listen officers, this is Commander Short speaking. I have found out how Richter mesmerizes his people. If you can break the trance they're in, they'll turn over and fight for us. We desperately need more people, so this is what you're going to do: Stun your opponent and find the small mark on his wrist. Use your gun or a knife to make a small hole in his arm and take out the little chip inside it. Then heal him and he should soon wake up and be able to fight. It's very important that you follow this procedure whenever it is possible! Copy that?"  
"Affirmative!" said a choir of voices.

"Over and out," Holly said, and turned off the microphone.

* * *

**Goldie:** Remember to review, or Holly will fry you with her Neutrino, or something.

**Holly:** You've got it, mud girl!


End file.
